Seed-planter and fertilizer-distributer.



No. 793,792. PATENTED JULY 4, 1905. J. U. JOHNSTUN.

SEED PLANTER AND FERTILIZER DISTRIBUTER.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG.10. 1904,

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Witnesses Inventor PATENTED JULY 4. 1905.

J. G. JOHNSTON.

SEED PLANTER AND FERTILIZER DISTRIBUTER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.10, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

U fimzl'bm, Invenkjf Witnesses Itatented July 4, 1905.

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BPJECEFICATIUW forming part of Letters Patent No. ?93,792, dated July 4t, 1905,

Application filed August 10, 1904 Serial No. 220,220. N

Tlo m/l m/to/rt 7 lam concern:

Be it known that l, dons U. elouns'rov, a citizen ol the United i ltates, residing at llart- Ford, in the enemy ol Cherokee and titate oi tleorgia, have iz'wented a new and useiful Seed- ,lclanter and Fertilizer-llistrilmter, of which the Following is a, s 'iccilication.

'lhis invention relates to seeders and planters, and especially to that class of devices which are adapted at a single operation to distrilmte fertilizing material and to plant or sow seed of various descriptions; and it has For its object to provide a device of this class which shall possess superior advantages in point oi? sin'iplicity, durability, and general elliciency.

rVith these and other ends in view, which will readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the improved constructioiii and novel arrangrmient and combination of parts, which will hereina'lter be fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

in the accompanying drawings has been illustrated a simple and preferred Form of embodiment of the invention, it being understood, however, that no limitation is necessarily made to the precise details therein exhibited, but that any changes, altmptions, and nui dilicatio1i1s to which recourse may be had without departing from the spirit ol' the invention or sacrilicing any of the advantages ol the same are included.

in said drawings, l igure 1. is a perspective view oi a combined seed-planter and. fertilizer distributor constructed in accordance with the principles ol the invention, Fig. 2. is a hmgitiulinal sectional view oi the same. ,l ig. 3 is a horizontal sectional detail view taken on the plane indicated by the line 3 3 in liig. 2 directly below the oscillatory seeddisk of the seed-planting mechanism. Fig. t is a plan view 01 the oscillatory seed-disk, and l ig. is a horizontal sectional detail view taken on the plane indicated by the line 5 5 in Fig. 2,

tlorrespolnling parts in the several ligi'ircs are indicated by similar characters ol rclew once.

in carrying out this invention a i'rz'une is provided coi'nprising two lorwardly-converging beams 11. 1, between the front ends of which is mounted the tongue 52, said beams being spaced apart at their rear ends by cross pieces or braces 3. ltlaeh oi the beams l is provided near its Front end with a depending bracket .11, the two brackets supporting hearing means for the axle 5 ol the transportil'ig and operating wheel (5. Upon the tmimgue 2 is mounted a standard 7, carrying a lurrowopener and the side beams l 1 are provided near their rear ends with standards 9, carrying covering members 10 of any suitable approved cmlstruction. The side beams 1 1 support a hopper ll, the bottom 01 which is formed by a plate 1.], connected with the side beams by means oi clips 12 '13 near the front and rear ends, respectively. The hopper H is provided with bearings for a transverse shalt 1 1;, provided at one end thereoi with a crank 15, having a wrist-pin 16. The shaft or axle is likewise provided at one end with a crank .17, having a wrist-pin .18, which is connected by a pitman 19 with the wristnu it of the crank .15. The latter being much longer than the crank 17 oi the axle, it follows that the rotation of the axle will impart an oscillatory movement to the transverse shaltt 1st, which latter is provided within the hopper with agitators 20 for the purpose of keeping the contents of said hopper, whether said contents be cotton-seed or fertilizing material, in a state 01'' agitation, which will cause it to be Forced regularly and evenly through a slot 21. in the bottom plate.

tlnder the preferred construction, which will be seen in Fig. 2 ol the drawings, the hottem plate ii is provided with a longitudinal cavity 22, which is segmental in shape and concentric with the shalt 14-, said cavity being lined with a strip of sheet metal 523, in which the slot 2 l is formed. liy this construction the din-ability oi the device is greatly increased and the slot, which is so lliciently wide to admit ol the passage ol the largest quantity of seed or fertilizing material that it may at any time be desired to deposit, is capable ol regulation by rmiami of a slide 32st, pivotally mounted Lin-- dcr the bottom plate 1 l and having a laterallyextending arm 25, whereby it may be swimg upon its pivot so as to obstruct a greater or lesser portion of the slot or feed-opening, thus permitting the escape of only such quantity of seed or fertilizing material as it may be desired to deposit or completely obstructing the opening when desired.

The rear portion of the hopper H. contains an auxiliary hopper K, which includes a bottom plate 26 and a front member 27, which latter is in the nature ot a transverse partition within the upper part of the main hopper. The rear side of the latter is cut away at its upper portion, so as to permit the rearward extension of the bottom plate 26, as shown. WVithin the auxiliary hopper and spaced above the bottom plate 26 of the latter is a bottom 28, which is mainly supported by means of a block 29, interposed between said bottom and the bottom plate 26, said spacing-block having a concave recess 30.

31 designates an oscillatory seed-disk which is supported upon the bottom plate 26, with which it is connected by means of a pivotal pin 32. The inner edge of the seed-disk, which latter is of an approxin'iately circular shape, is accommoiilated and guided in the recess 30 of the block 29. The rcarward-extending end of the bottom plate 26 is provided with openings 3?), with which downwardly-extending seed-tubes 35L are connected. The seed-disk 31 is provided with seed-cells 35, which by the oscillation of the disk are alternately brought into registry with the pert'orations 34: in the seed-tubes, a portion ol the bottom .28 being cut away in order to enable the seed to pass to the seed cups or cells to be conveyed by the latter to the seed-tubes and thence to the ground. The rear wall 30 of the auxiliary hopper K is provided with recesses 37, located directly above the path of the seed-cells and protected by flexible wipers 38, which serve to remove surplus seeds from the seed-cells when the device is in operation. The auxiliary hopper li is provided with a longitudinal partition ell), so that, if desired, two different kinds of seeds, such as corn and peas, may be planted at the same time, charges ol the dil t'erent kinds of seed being alternately delivered, will be readily understood. Pivotally mounted upon the bottom plate 31 is a valve -Ll-l, having a rearwardly-extending handle &2, whereby it may be readily manipulated to close one of the seed-oymniugs 33, so as to temporarily suspend when desired the d ropping ol seed from either of the compartments of the auxiliary hopper.

The oscillatory seed-slide is provided with a laterally-extending arm a3, which extends beyond the side of the hopper-casing and which is connected by a pitman ate with the wrist-pin 18 upon the crank l? of the axle, said wrist-pin being of sullicient dimensions to enable it to be connected simultaneously with the pitmen 4A; and it), as will be seen in the drawings,

For the purpose oi manipulating the cutol'l' or slide let the laterally-extending arm 25 of the latter is connected with an operatingrod 25, which is suitably guided in the direction ol? the handles 25" of the machine, where it may be readily reached by the operator, who may thus conveniently regulate the escape of material from the main hopper.

lVhen the auxiliary hoppers of the device are to be used for the purpose of planting either corn or other seeds, it will not always be desirable to discharge fertilizing material by the means which have been hereinbelore set forth, for the reason that by such means the fertilizing material is delivered in a contin uous stream, of which only a comparatively small portion would be efi ective to promote the growth ol the corn or other seeds deposited in hills a suitable distance apart. For the purpose, then, of dropping fertilizing material intermittently at each operation of the seed-dropping mechanism 1 provide special mechanism including a frame or carrier 15, extending through a slot tli in the rear wall of the hopper and having a forwardly-extending arm L7, at the forward extremity of which is formed a laterally-extending bracket l8. The frame 4.5 is partially covered, by a cut-otl slide 4E9, extending through the rear wall of the hopper and adjustable by means 0! a pin 50, extending through one 01'' a plurality oi perforations 51 in said cut'o'tl' slide. The carrier-frame 4E5 receives a reciprocatory motion from the agitators or lingers extending from the rock-shaft ll, which is journaled in the hopper H. One of said lingers (specially designated 20") is longer than the remaining lingers and may engage the lrame 4-5, while another oi the lingers or agitators (specially designated 20) is bifurcated at its lower end, as shown at 20, and straddles the bracket is. Hence when the rock-shaft Ll is in operation a reciprocatory movement will be imparted to the frame 4C5, which when it enters the hopper will be tilled with a quantity ot fertilizing material regulated by the position of the slide it). llhen the said frame is moved in a rearward direction, the ter tilizing material carried thereby will be sntlered to drop upon the ground alongside ol the seeds that are being deposited by the seeding mechanism, which has been hcreinbetore fully described.

For the purpose ol guiding the 't'ertilizei distributing device, which has just been described, a pin is provided, said pin pro" jecting upwardly from the bottom of the hop per. The auxiliary fertilizer-distributingde vice may be detached from the hopper when the seed-planting mechanism is in operatimi.

A spout or tube is disposed between the frame-beams l 1, directly under the bottom plate of the hopper, For the purpose 0 I guiding the material escaping through the slot in tl e bottom of said hopper-plate into the l'urrow,

"rea /92 whieh is opened in ad anee by the |'urrowopener hereinhelore iileserihed.

'lhe operation and ad vantages ol this in rention will be readily uiulerstood from the loregoing description, taken in eonneetion with the drawings hereto annexed. As the machine progresses over the lield a Fin-row is opened by the liu'row-o iener, and. into this furrow 'l ertilizing material is lirst discharged 'l'rom the main hinn er. ifieeds of any de seription may then be deposited in the lurrow from one or both oi the compartments ol the auxiliary hopper, the seeds being covered by the eorerers attached to the standards eonneeted with the rear ends of the :lran1ebeams. l I' desired, the maehinemay be used as a notton-planter, and the auxiliary hopper may then for the time being be thrown out of use,

The simplieity oi the machine and its adaptability to a variety ol uses render it especially useful and serviceable to farmers who are not able to afford a large variety of seedplantersaml similar implements, whil B at the same time the worh done by this machine ieaves nothing to he desired.

A desir: ,hle 'l eature of this invention is that the work performed thereby is :l\ ays in full view o IF the operator, who may thus readily detect and remedy any il ailure to plant with the requisite promptness and regularity.

l'laring thus deserihed the invention, what is claimed is 1. lo a maehii'ie ol the elass described, a hopper having a slot in its rear Wall, a earrierlrame extmuling through said slot, a eut-olif plate inoiu'ited adjustably above s; id warriew Frame, and means For operating the latter.

2. in a maehine oi the class described, a hopper hai 'ing a slot in its rear wall, a ;arrierlraine supported upon the bottom. ol the hop-- per and extend ing through said slot, an arm exteni iing lorwardly From said i iflil'iil'b and harii'ig a laterally-extending braeket, a rockshalt niou'l' ted in the hopper, and agil'atil'iglingers extending from Pilhl roelesha'l t and adapted to engage, and to impart reeiproeatory nu'wement to the earrier-l'ran'ie,

Iii. in a maehine ol the class deserihed, a hopper having a slot in the rear wall thereol', a Ottll'l(H'fil l'itillfl extending through said slot, an arm extending l orwardly lrom said earrier-li'raine and having a laterally-mctemling bracket, a rock-shaft 'iijmrnaled in the hopper, an agitating-1inger exteiuling from said rookshaft and engaging the earrier-lrame, and a hiluritated agitator -linger extending l roin the roeleshalt and engaging the transverse braohet ol the arm )xtending from the ear-- rier. 1

st. in a n'iaehine of the class deseribed, a hopper having a slot in the rear wall thereof, aearrier-i rame supported upon the bottom ol. the hopper and adapted to extend through said slot, a reek-shalt journaled in the hopper, an agitoting-linger ixtendingiiromsaid roehtsha'lt and engaging the e: r1.'ierlrame to operate the latter, auxiliary seed dropping mechanism supported within the main hop per, and means for sin1ultanemisly operating the rock-shaft and the auxiliary seerhdroping rneehai'iisin.

5. in a machine oi the class described a hopper having a slot in the rear wall thereof, a :ai-rier-'l'ran1e SHPpUliLXi upon the bottom. of the hopper and :ulapted to extend through said slot, a rook-shaft jonrnaled in the hop per, an agitating-Iinger extending from mid i,'oel\'-shal't and engaging the e: ,rrier-l ame to operate the latter, an auxiliary hopper with-- in the main hopper, seed-dropping mechanism within said auxiliary hopper, a seed-- spout depending from the auxiliary hopper and terminating in proximity to the slot in the rear side 0| the main hopper, and means for simi'lltmieously operating the roelc-shalt in the main hoppe' and the auxiliary seeddropping mechanism,

in testimony that l elaim the foregoing my own I. have hereto aliixed my signature the [)I'CSOUCO of two witnesses.

JOI l i). .lUllNSlKiN,

iiS

"l Vil nesses:

time. ll. 'lnasnnr, W. P. ltlairrisl. 

